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Arguments Against Standardized Testing

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Standardized tests have been a part of American education since the mid-1800s. Their use became mandated after 2001’s No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), which mandated annual testing in all 50 states for student’s grades three through eight. This act aimed to hold all public schools to a high standard of education, measured by their student’s scores in statewide-standardized tests. High-stakes achievement tests have provoked the most controversy. These assessments carry important consequences for students, teachers and schools. Low-test scores can prevent a student from progressing to the next grade level or lead to teacher firing and school closures. High-stake tests are unreliable measure of student’s performance; they are discriminatory against non-English speakers and students with intellectual disabilities, and cause severe stress in younger students. High-stake tests should not be used in the United States to measure student’s performance; instead performance-based assessments are more effective and have positive outcomes.
Under the No Child Left Behind Act, test scores impact how much funding a school gets from the …show more content…

Rather than a full picture of how a child learns, including creativity, collaboration skills, drive, social skills, etc. According to late education researcher Gerald W. Bracey, PhD, qualities that standardized tests cannot measure include "creativity, critical thinking, resilience, motivation, persistence, curiosity, endurance, reliability, enthusiasm, empathy, self-awareness, self-discipline, leadership, civic-mindedness, courage, compassion, resourcefulness, sense of beauty, sense of wonder, honesty, integrity." Standardized test do not measure these qualities, which carry equal or greater weight in determining a person’s success. Standardized tests results are one measure among

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Have you ever thought of what life would be like without guidance? In the book, The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor, Alyss is forced into this situation. This all stems from her aunt’s hunger for power as this is why her parents, the king and queen, are killed by Alyss’ aunt and why their heir, Alyss, is on the run. Led by her chief bodyguard, Hatter, she is thrown into a strange universe, but as they are transported through the pool, Hatter and Alyss are separated. The challenges that Alyss faces in The Looking Glass Wars are that nobody is there to guide her, her malicious aunt wants to kill her, and she is told she failed the maze.

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If students perform well on standardized tests, then they could possibly be selected for “gifted programs, colleges, scholarships, or employment.” (D. Thompson) Public schools receive funding from the state when excelling students in their state perform well on standardized tests. The state funds the schools in order to provide their students with merit based scholarships. This is important because this data helps schools find the most promising students in their state.

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894 Words | 4 Pages

Standardized tests are one of the most popular ways schools attempt to evaluate academic intelligence of students, school districts, and teachers. These tests are used more specifically to evaluate student performance in the education system by testing their abilities in mathematics, english and sciences. By giving every student the same test, they are setting a standard idea for how well every student should score on the test, such as the SAT or the ACT, no matter the school or educational process they are receiving. Allowing every student to take the exact same test, gives the state a way to generalize student’s academic intelligence without having to do much work to make the testing one hundred percent fair. Standardized testing in schools should no longer be required because it discriminates against the less wealthy families, does not effectively measure achievement and becomes a distraction to the student’s learning environment.

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1577 Words | 7 Pages

In order to measure students fairly, biases across of different regions and races must be eliminated, along with reducing the number of tests, and eliminating the harsh consequences tied to low test scores (Edwards, “Leaving Tests Behind”). The main supporters of these changes are those directly affected by the results of standardized tests: students, teachers, and other faculty of the school district. Students are most directly effected as they are the ones taking and being graded by the tests. Teachers and school districts are also heavily affected by the standardized tests due to the NCLB accountability program which requires students to reach a specific benchmark score or face the repercussions of possibly having to close the

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795 Words | 4 Pages

In a growing number of states, scores on standardized tests weigh heavily in determining whether a 10 year old advances to the next grade with their classmates or whether a teen can get his high school diploma. Tests scores also determine which teachers keep their jobs, how much those teachers are paid and even which public schools are shut down or turned over to private management. Students complain about the test prep and the constant reviewing. But do we really need to put all this emphasis on standardized tests and scores? Schools are under tremendous pressure to raise scores.

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974 Words | 4 Pages

This brings one question into the light: Is standardized testing really teaching and preparing our students in the best way possible? This is a question that has yet to be answered. The American public education system must be changed to meet the needs of today and the best way

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1077 Words | 5 Pages

(C2) State misses standardized tests for the wrong reasons. (D2) According to a study conducted by Gerald W Bracey, the tests that allegedly measure critical thinking do not measure it correctly. He said that standardized tests do not measure creativity, critical thinking, resilience, motivation, persistence, curiosity, endurance, reliability, enthusiasm, empathy, self awareness, self-discipline, leadership, civic-mindedness, courage, compassion, resourcefulness, sense of beauty, sense of wonder, honesty, and integrity (Procon 2).

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866 Words | 4 Pages

The No Child Left Behind act mandates that all students have set goals, leading to these tests. Standardized Tests should be eliminated because they do not measure student achievement accurately, they do not motivate students to try, and they have a negative impact on graduation rates.

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1024 Words | 5 Pages

The test is used to determine graduation, promotion to the next grade, entrance to gifted programs, and many other things. The high stakes of the test are horrible in their ability to finalize such decisions, even with their lack of measuring academic abilities, and creation of an unhealthy stressful environment. " Currently, 17 states require students to pass a test to graduate, and 7 more are planning such test" The National Center for Fair and Open Testing pointed out in one of their online articles about high-stake testing. Research has shown that high-stake testing causes damage to education and students. Standardize test practically punishes low-income families and families with children in school who learn English as a second language.

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885 Words | 4 Pages

True high-stakes standardized testing was begun in 2001, as part of the No Child Left Behind Act, which was put into place to help make it so that all children would have an equal opportunity to learn, regardless of their race, ethnic background or their families’ income level. While their goals sound admirable, the problem began with the implementation of the act; they wanted to ensure that each child was at least proficient in the standards that they developed, so they decided that testing was the best way to do so (Aske, Connelly & Corman, 2013). The issue with this is that not all students excel at test-taking, and putting so much emphasis on it can cause a student severe stress and anxiety (Colwell, 2013). In 2009, Race to the Top was implemented, but instead of placing less emphasis on testing and more on learning, it made the stakes worse, ensuring that schools that had students who did not perform as well could be shut down, or individual teachers could be fired if they did not show what was considered to be appropriate progress in test scores, which might soon prove impossible since the optimal goal is to reach a level of 100 percent of the students in a school to the proficiency level (Tavakolian & Howell,

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591 Words | 3 Pages

Bush passed the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), an reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) under Lyndon B. Johnson administration’s War of Poverty. The No Child Left Behind Act requires states to administer an annual assessment, and ensure that schools are making Adequate Yearly Progress, a set of measuring tool to determine if schools are successful. One of the primary goals of the No Child Left Behind Act is to close the students’ achievement gaps by 2014 through the four main pillars: stronger accountability for results, more flexibility for states, more choices for parents, and proven education methods. (U.S Department of Education, 2004) However, the NCLB is exacerbating the gaps with its strong emphasis on the use of standardized testing as a measurement.

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902 Words | 4 Pages

No Child Left Behind, a bill passed in 2002 which required all states to set goals and standard that would follow the guidelines of a national plan. The primary way to assure that all students met these goals was through a standardized test which would be administered once at the end of each school year, but the problem stands that standardized tests are an inadequate method of tracking the progress of students. In its current form standardized tests are designed to only measure proficiency in math, English, social studies, and science. As stated by Gerald W. Bracey, PhD "Standardized tests cannot measure qualities like creativity, critical thinking, resilience, motivation, persistence, curiosity, endurance, reliability, enthusiasm, empathy,

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1845 Words | 8 Pages

Additionally, Gandy states the results of standardized test should be used especially to help children of color and low-income students to receive an equal education in comparison to their white affluent peers. Gandy strongly believes standardized test teaches children to think critically because of standardized test she was gained important critical thinking skills that she has used throughout her life .She ultimately, argues standardized testing has been around for a long time so why is it all of sudden children are emotionally unstable to cope with the test, she goes on to say children are capable of taking the test but adults are not comfortable with what the test may reveal. Standardized test allows teachers to see whether a child is performing at grade level and allows parents to make inform decisions for their children. Standardizing test allows setting goals and achieving

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999 Words | 4 Pages

Even so, such tests have their uses.” (Starr, J.P.,2017) As a superintendent of a school district, Starr realizes that while standardized testing is “meaningless in the real world” (Leadership, 2017) it is helpful to evaluate classes, schools, and school districts. Standardized test scores do not determine the worth of a student, but the quality of education the students are receiving in their school, school district, or state. (Starr,J.P.,2017)

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2967 Words | 12 Pages

Standardized testing, which is part of the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), and which falls under NCLB, seeks to hold teachers, schools, school districts, and states, accountable for student progress and achievement through multiple yearly tests in core academic subjects like English, math, science, and social studies. Test scores have been an issue of concern for several decades (Hout, 2012). In the past few years there has been a debate over are our students are being tested too much and are these high-state tests harming our students (Hout, 2012) Even more disturbing, the test results demonstrated that the achievement gap between students was largely based on socioeconomic status and financial security (Collier, 2016). Understanding how impactful standardized test scores can be to students from low socioeconomic backgrounds needs to be explored

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